MOLECULAR EVIDENCE FOR THE HYBRID ORIGIN OF TEIUS SUQUIENSIS (SQUAMATA: TEIIDAE)

AVILA, L.J.; MORANDO, M.; SITES, JR. J. W.

Manaus

Congreso; Joint Herpetological Meeting; 2003

American Society of Ichtyologists and Herpetologists

Lizards of the genus Teius are distributed in southern South America along a wide variety of habitats, from the dry desert Monte in western Argentina to the humid plains near Selva Paranaense in the Parana Basin. Currently only three species have been described, T. teyou in the western Chaco and Monte, T. oculatus in the eastern Pampas and Espinal, and the parthenogenetic T. suquiensis distributed in the central range of both species. Several individuals of the three species from several localities were included in a molecular phylogenetic analysis of the origin of the parthenogenetic populations. Two nuclear (C-MOS, Enolase intron), and one mitochondrial (ND4) genes were used as markers, for a total of approximately 1500 bp. Fixed differences were identified for the sexual species in both nuclear genes, and these were always present as polymorphisms in T. suquiensis, suggesting the hybrid origin of this species. Sequences for the mitochondrial fragment always were identical to those from T. oculatus, indicating that a female T. oculatus and a male of T. teyou were the parental ancestors.